Inside Live Earth: The Struggle Behind Al Gore's Concert for the Planet

When Gore signed on, Wall and his company began assembling the roster and securing venues. But just two years after Live 8, the new event has failed to attract much buzz here - and has garnered hostile press in the U.K. (A major concern is that the air travel and production involved in Live Earth could hurt the environment more than the event helps.) Early on, the organizing team pushed Gore and Wall to announce concrete objectives that would deflect criticism like Geldof's and give the show some gravitas. "We just keep saying, 'It's a launch event,' and that's why we've held back," says Marianne Troup, a Live Earth publicist based in London. "We've deliberately not even announced the consumer solutions we're talking about, which has given us some bad press, people going, 'Is it just a concert? What's the point?' "

After months of planning, Gore and Wall recently initiated regular conference calls with activists like Sinha and David de Rothschild, an environmentalist who wrote The Live Earth Global Warming Survival Handbook, which will be sold at the shows and offers dozens of tips for consumers (everything from which light bulbs to use to paying attention to how far your food travels before it gets to you). The intention is to create a "manifesto" - specific action points organizers will ask politicians, corporations and consumers to sign off on as part of Live Earth. "From this stage, it's no more fucking excuses: No more coal-energy plants can be built," says Wall. "Three percent a year reduction in carbon emissions in all industrialized nations. You can't depend on your governments anymore. We have to mobilize the army, and that's what we're about to start doing."

Live Earth strives to operate in as ecofriendly a way as possible: Several staffers are dedicated entirely to helping artists minimize the environmental impact of getting to and playing the shows, and each artist is given a "Green Handbook" of touring tips, such as where to get biodiesel for their trucks and how to offset carbon emissions. And in London, the team has been discussing a deal with Richard Branson's Virgin Atlantic Airlines to reduce the carbon footprint for flights - which could be a great PR boon, deflecting some of the criticism of Live Earth.

A consummate showman, Wall is convinced Live Earth's symbolic moments matter more than any manifesto. He has spent weeks trying to get permission from the U.K.'s power grid to buy into his idea for one of the shows' most spectacular moments: A presenter will ask everyone watching on the BBC to turn off all the lights and electronic devices in their homes except for their TVs. "We'll have aerial views of London and video of the national electric meter, which will go whoosh," says Wall as he mimes a dial turning to zero. "It will be one of those things where people can't see the effect of their single action, but when it's many, they can see a big effect - it'll be fantastic." Except for one problem: "The grid people are worried about what will happen when everybody turns their lights back on at the same time," he says. "It could blow out the system. We'll figure it out - that's a battle I have to win."